4 ms·

Ask HN: Possible to send a message that will be delivered in 1k years?

4 points by alando46 6y ago

helph67 6y ago
Here's one important example from history... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone
- alando46 6y ago
  is there an obvious best way to try sending today using some sort of digital message?
sigmaprimus 6y ago
It depends on where it is going to be delivered, you might be able to send a message to WASP-142b that would get there in 1000 years.
twright 6y ago
Put it on a rocket and set it up for a 1000 year trajectory that would bring it back to Earth (or simply a local orbit that decays over a millennium). I’ve only played KSP so I’m sure there’s some impossibility in this (could a parachute last that long and remain functional?). The medium of the message is another interesting question for this.
- gtsteve 6y ago
  Sounds a bit like KEO [0] which was intended to deliver messages back to earth 50,000 years from now. I first heard of it in 2002 but it still hasn't launched and I guess it never will. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEO
auganov 6y ago
Pick a sufficient number of iterations. Recursively hash a random input that many times and use the resulting hash as the encryption secret for the message. Publish the encrypted message, the seed[s], the number of iterations and detailed decryption instructions. You cannot easily parallelize the solving, but using multiple chain encrypted seeds we can parallelize the generation. You could mix different hashing functions with different characteristics to hedge against different kinds of computational speedups. Though speedups could also work in our favor, since nobody may want to start solving the challenge today. For redundancy you could try different less reliable methods to deliver solved seeds at the right time. Say you try to deliver the seed that should have taken 100 years to compute after 100 years somehow. I don't think too many people have made a lot of fanfare about doing this, so you'd have an advantage in being one of the first.
drewbug 6y ago
https://www.gwern.net/Self-decrypting-files https://www.gwern.net/Self-decrypting-files
imhoguy 6y ago
Send a sailcraft probe[0] to a star ~166.6 light years away with mean 0.2c speed which will take ~833 years. It must be programmed such that once at destination it should shot a laser message back to earth which will take ~166.6 years. Is that calc correct? [0] https://phys.org/news/2020-05-interstellar-probes-starshot.html https://phys.org/news/2020-05-interstellar-probes-starshot.h...
kleer001 6y ago
Delivered and understood? Delivered and have impact? Exactly 1k years? What's your budget? Just one message? More than one? A stream with a 1K year delay? Also, why?

4 points by alando46 6y ago

Here's one important example from history... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosetta_Stone

alando46 6y ago
is there an obvious best way to try sending today using some sort of digital message?

sigmaprimus 6y ago

It depends on where it is going to be delivered, you might be able to send a message to WASP-142b that would get there in 1000 years.

twright 6y ago

Put it on a rocket and set it up for a 1000 year trajectory that would bring it back to Earth (or simply a local orbit that decays over a millennium). I’ve only played KSP so I’m sure there’s some impossibility in this (could a parachute last that long and remain functional?). The medium of the message is another interesting question for this.

gtsteve 6y ago
Sounds a bit like KEO [0] which was intended to deliver messages back to earth 50,000 years from now. I first heard of it in 2002 but it still hasn't launched and I guess it never will. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KEO

auganov 6y ago

Pick a sufficient number of iterations. Recursively hash a random input that many times and use the resulting hash as the encryption secret for the message. Publish the encrypted message, the seed[s], the number of iterations and detailed decryption instructions. You cannot easily parallelize the solving, but using multiple chain encrypted seeds we can parallelize the generation. You could mix different hashing functions with different characteristics to hedge against different kinds of computational speedups. Though speedups could also work in our favor, since nobody may want to start solving the challenge today. For redundancy you could try different less reliable methods to deliver solved seeds at the right time. Say you try to deliver the seed that should have taken 100 years to compute after 100 years somehow. I don't think too many people have made a lot of fanfare about doing this, so you'd have an advantage in being one of the first.

drewbug 6y ago

https://www.gwern.net/Self-decrypting-files https://www.gwern.net/Self-decrypting-files

imhoguy 6y ago

Send a sailcraft probe[0] to a star ~166.6 light years away with mean 0.2c speed which will take ~833 years. It must be programmed such that once at destination it should shot a laser message back to earth which will take ~166.6 years. Is that calc correct? [0] https://phys.org/news/2020-05-interstellar-probes-starshot.html https://phys.org/news/2020-05-interstellar-probes-starshot.h...

kleer001 6y ago

Delivered and understood? Delivered and have impact? Exactly 1k years? What's your budget? Just one message? More than one? A stream with a 1K year delay? Also, why?